24 January, 2023

The Horizon Europe Senior Eco-Nect project proceeded with an online webinar today to consult with stakeholders interested in the senior economy and in connecting diverse economic sectors to meet the needs of the large and growing over 50 market.

 

The well attended online event engaged contrasting stakeholders to identify what is of interest to them in the project and what key things would encourage them to stay in touch and benefit from the project outcomes.

 

 

The webinar was opened by Gisela Garcia-Álvarez, the managing Director of the Galician Health Cluster (CSG). Gisela welcomed the participants and introduced the stakeholders and speakers for this Working Group. Caroline Weste, our Eurasanté colleague, was Compère for proceedings. 

Representing the ECHA Alliance, the first speaker, Andy Bleaden, discussed the development of ecosystems. He explained the geographical or thematic sector breakdown of the ecosystems for the silver economy. The ECHA Alliance represent over 70 separate ecosystems and connect not only geographical but diverse stakeholders and sectors.

 

 

The second speaker, Simon Benouw, explained the history of the development of Eurasanté’s business park and ecosystem. Simon described the benefits they have found in linking hospitals and a business park to drive innovation and solutions for ecosystems, with cross collaboration and sharing of experiences for market development or for stages of business development.

Next, our Senior Eco-Nect colleague, Ivor Ambrose, of the multi-stakeholder European Network for Accessible Tourism - ENAT, spoke about how their ecosystem developed from around 2008. Ivor explained that ENAT has grown and developed and is now in itself an ecosystem connecting many organisations and stakeholders through the umbrella of accessibility and quality within tourism. With their tourism focus, they link different players and make the whole supply chain more accessible to improve both the tourism offers and the customer experiences. The joined-up, or holistic approach, drives successful accessible tourism and successful businesses, all based on good customer service accessibility, and a focus on universal design.

 

A round table discussion followed with a range of stakeholders. The distinguished discussion panel of 5 diverse stakeholders included Ivor Ambrose, Boris Cizelj - Director of the Slovenian Innovation Hub (SIH EEIG), Pablo Mosquea - Investment Director with UNRISCO, Román Medved - Project Manager with Ljubljana Regional Development Agency in Slovenia, and Angel Rodríguez - ATENDO, an organization that offers services for older individuals in Galicia, Spain.

 

 

In turn, each speaker outlined what was of interest to them in developing silver economy ecosystems and interconnectivity. These included:

• identification and development of transferable good practices;
• outlining the benefits to be obtained from being in an ecosystem;
• considering universal design so products and services work for all, not just the average users;
• understanding what responsible investment means in terms of the macro-consumer trends of the silver economy;
• nurturing relationships through sharing experience and learning from others;
• how to integrate and foster relationships with players in the silver ecosystem;
• developing synergies to drive innovation;
• finding sustainable solutions that maintain funding and services after development;
• keeping partnerships fresh and remaining flexible and adaptable;
• creating solutions for the next generation;
• countering stereotypes and ageism and raising awareness of barriers such as no travel insurance for over 70s or problems with bank loans for over 65s.

The meeting closed with Gisela thanking all the speakers and participants. The final words were from Caroline Weste who encouraged participants to sign up for the Senior Eco-Nect Newsletter to stay in touch with the project and to keep up to date with the upcoming mapping of stakeholders exercise and the regional surveys to establish the opportunities and barriers within each region.

 

To subscribe to the Senior EcoNect Newsletter, visit the project website at: https://www.senior-eco-nect.com/

 

 

 

 

For more information on this project, please click here to go to the project page on our website.

 

 

https://www.senior-eco-nect.com/

 

This project has been Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor EISMEA can be held responsible for them.